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“There Are No Civilians In Wartime.” Rachel Corrie’s Family Confronts The Israeli Military In Court

Cindy, Sarah, and Craig Corrie in the Haifa District Court for the second round of hearings in their civil suit against the Israeli government

In a small courtroom on the sixth floor of Haifa’s District Court, a colonel in the Israeli engineering corps who wrote a manual for the bulldozer units that razed the Rafah Refugee Camp in 2003 offered his opinion on the killing of the American activist Rachel Corrie.

“There are no civilians during wartime,” Yossi declared under oath.

Yossi made his remarkable statement under withering cross examination by Hussein Abu Hussein, the lawyer for the family of Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah on March 17, 2003. In the back of the courtroom were Rachel’s parents, Craig and Cindy, and her sister, Sarah, back in Israel for the second round of hearings in their civil suit against the state of Israel. They were joined by supporters, friends and a handful of reporters, including me (see Nora Barrows-Friedman’s report for more). No one from the Israeli media was present — the case has been virtually ignored inside Israel.

In the immediate wake of Corrie’s killing, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, then the chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, instructed Corrie’s parents to demand a “thorough, fair and transparent investigation” from the Israeli government. Since then, the Israelis have stonewalled them, refusing to provide key details of their investigation, which was corrupted from the start by the investigators’ apparent attempts to find evidence that a bulldozer did not in fact kill Rachel.

A 2003 bill introduced in the House International Relations Committee calling for a thorough Israeli investigation in Corrie’s killing and for American efforts to prevent such killings from happening again garnered 78 signatures in support (Rahm Emanuel was the only Jewish signer). However, Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, one of the Israel lobby’s closest allies in Congress, prevented the bill from getting out of the committee. President George W. Bush could have pressed for a full floor vote on the bill but he did nothing. The bill died as a result.

Having been obstructed by the Israelis’ opaque investigation and betrayed by their own government (with notable exceptions like former Rep. Brian Baird), the Corries have been forced to take matters into their own hands. And so they have filed suit against the Israeli government for criminal negligence. Whether or not they will be able to secure the ruling they seek, Rachel Corrie’s family has already elicited a number of damning revelations about the Israeli army’s abuses in Gaza in 2003 and the machinations it has relied on to obscure evidence of its criminal conduct.

“I think we are in a situation similar to South Africa. What we are trying to make clear is that the truth has to be pursued diligently or we won’t make it to the point of reconciliation,” Craig Corrie told me, referring to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that enabled South Africa to peacefully transition from an apartheid system to representative democracy. “We need to understand and acknowledge the truth first.”

So far, the truth has not been easy to come by. The Corries are saddled with a judge who is said to have never ruled in favor of any plaintiff in a civil rights-related suit. And the defense has claimed unspecified state security concerns in its successful bid to avoid revealing the full contents of the investigation into Rachel Corrie’s killing — the family’s lawyers have only been allowed to view a summary. But the Corries’ legal efforts have not been in vain.

On the first day of hearings, the Corries’ lawyers were able to confirm through testimony from “Oded,” one of the investigators of Rachel Corrie’s killing, that Major General Doron Almog, then the head of the Israeli army’s Southern Command, had attempted to stop the military investigators from questioning the bulldozer operators who killed Rachel. When asked why he did not challenge Almog’s apparently illegal intervention, Oded stated that he was only 20-years-old at the time, with no college education and only a few months of training as an investigator. He was intimidated by the high-ranking officer who stormed into the room and menaced him and the other investigators. (Almog once canceled a trip to Britain after being warned that he would be arrested on arrival for ordering the destruction of 59 homes in the Rafah refugee camp in 2002).

Among the most disturbing aspects of Corrie’s case is the abuse of her body by Israeli authorities after she was killed. Craig Corrie recalled to me a panicked phone conversation he had with Will Hewitt, a friend and former classmate of Rachel Corrie who had just witnessed her killing.

“It’s getting dark over here and there are no refrigeration units for her body in Gaza,” Hewitt told Craig Corrie.

“Just leave it until tomorrow,” Craig replied. “We don’t want you or anyone else to get killed.”

“But her body is starting to smell,” Hewitt pleaded.

Somehow Hewitt and his fellow activists from the International Solidarity Movement were able to get Rachel Corrie’s body out of Gaza. But first Hewitt was ordered by Israeli troops to remove the body from the casket and carry it across a border checkpoint. Only Hewitt was allowed to escort Corrie’s body in the ambulance; the rest of the activists who witnessed her death were forced to hitchhike home in the desert. Finally, Corrie’s body was transported to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv where the notorious Dr. Yehuda Hiss autopsied her.

Who is Dr. Hiss? The chief pathologist of Israel for a decade and a half, Hiss was implicated by a 2001 investigation by the Israeli Health Ministry of stealing body parts ranging from legs to testicles to ovaries from bodies without permission from family members then selling them to research institutes. Bodies plundered by Hiss included those of Palestinians and Israeli soldiers. He was finally removed from his post in 2004 when the body of a teenage boy killed in a traffic accident was discovered to have been thoroughly gnawed on by a rat in Hiss’s laboratory. In an interview with researcher Nancy Schepper-Hughes, Hiss admitted that he harvested organs if he was confident relatives would not discover that they were missing. He added that he often used glue to close eyelids to hide missing corneas.

When Craig and Cindy Corrie learned that Hiss would perform an autopsy on their daughter, they stipulated that they would only allow the doctor to go forward if an official from the American consulate was present throughout the entire procedure. An Israeli military police report stated that an American official did indeed witness the autopsy. However, when the Corries asked American diplomatic officials including former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzner if the report was true, they were informed that no American was present at all. The Israelis had lied to them, and apparently fixed their own report to deceive the American government.

On March 14, during the first round of hearings in the Corries’ civil suit, Hiss admitted under oath that he had lied about the presence of an American official during the autopsy of Rachel Corrie. He also conceded to taking “samples” from Corrie’s body for “histological testing” without informing her family. Just which parts of Corrie’s body Hiss took remains unclear; despite Hiss’s claim that he “buried” the samples, her family has not confirmed the whereabouts of her missing body parts.

“It’s so hard to know that Rachel’s body wasn’t respected,” Rachel’s sister, Sarah, told me. “Doctor Hiss and the Israeli government knew what our family’s wishes were. The fact that our wishes were disregarded and a judge hasn’t done anything is absolutely horrifying.”

The treatment of Rachel Corrie’s body is peripheral to her family’s lawsuit. But it demonstrates the degree to which she and those whose homes she died defending have been dehumanized — “there are no civilians during wartime,” as Colonel Yossi declared. Rachel Corrie’s family is seeking only one dollar in symbolic punitive damages from the Israeli government. Their real goal is to force a country in a perpetual state of warfare to treat its innocent victims as human beings, and to be held accountable if it does not.

“It is incredibly expensive for us to carry this case on both emotionally and financially,” Craig Corrie remarked. “It is a whole lot to ask of a private citizen. But as a family we still have the ability to do a lot, so we are going to carry this cause on for everyone who cannot.”

I am no longer surprised that Israeli officials feel permitted to commit crimes which breach international law or that they have absolute belief in their superiority and right to do whatever they want to achieve their own goals.
Not surprised because the USA has blocked actions against Israel for war crimes, crimes against humanity and breaches of UN resolutions, and has also commiited similar breaches of their own.
“No civilians in wartime” is a chilling echo that reminds me of past atrocities that have been committed against civilians, who actually do exist as a definitive group and who have rights as such which are clearly set down in the Geneva conventions and other international protocols/conventions.
That attitude that underpins the notion that there are no civilians in wartime permits bombing of children and pregnant women, shooting of families lined up against walls, executions of non combatants at will ,disrespect for the dead and humiliation of the living and so on. That ought to remind us all of many things, including the actions of the Nazi regime in Europe, Stalin in the USSR, Pol Pot, and the Rwanda genocide- amongst others.
That Israel permits abuses against civilians- and it does all the time- indicates to me that they are a rogue state.
No country has been permitted to bring them to account simply because a fellow rogue state- the USA- prevents any such action from being taken.
Nothing will change unless the UN finally enforces compliance with its resolutions, and the world community that likes to think itself on the side of human rights and international laws, actually DOES something that makes sure such laws are complied with.
No matter who it is that is breaching the laws.

Oh no! What you are referring to is someone willingly putting themselves in danger in order to protect something.

The picture I posted is one of members of “the most moral army in the world” using a child as a human shield against his will.

Keep defending these crimes Walt. I am an Atheist, but I know you are religious. I hope you are right; because if you are right, then you and the criminals you support will be punished by a god for your grotesque behavior.

Unfortunately, that is not going to happen. If there was a god, none of this would be happening.

Consider a “Good Citizen Scale”. It rates all people in a nation on a scorecard from 1 to 100 based on how well they further the general welfare of the place. At the bottom are the traitors, those individuals intent on inflicting harm on others and destroying the state, even the good parts of it. At the top are the tzaddiks, the righteous souls. Those who exhibit true courage in fighting evil. Those great, often unheard of people who do an enormous amount of chesed (kindness) work amongst their peers and community.

Rachel Corrie was a seriously disturbed individual who adopted a toxic political philosophical position. Her unfortunate death was a result of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many people just hate the fact that the Jews have a real presence in the Holy Land at this time in human history. It is hard for people to understand that others do not even recognize your right to exist. In a well known photo taken a week before her death in March 2003, she is seen burning a mock USA flag in a satanic cult-like pose in Gaza. If you look at the demeanour and faces of the children around her, they are actually embarrassed by her actions. Never underestimate the wisdom of children.

In the last week of her life what rating would you have given Rachel Corrie’s mindset ? I have great respect for the dead and we are reaching a point in time when all the crimes of humankind are being considered in the divine court. All instances of unnecessary death and injury can be deconstructed. There is a reason for everything that happens in the universe. All behaviour is a result of mindset and setting. Change both and you change the course of human history.

P.S. What happened to little Rachel between the years of three and a half to eight ? Her father might know the answer to this question.

“Many people just hate the fact that the Jews have a real presence in the Holy Land at this time in human history. It is hard for people to understand that others do not even recognize your right to exist.”

You don’t have the right to the particular kind of state you constructed. And the Zionist movement from day one didn’t respect the right of the non-Jews in the holy land to exist.

walt kovacs says:
“to poyani….show me as many pics as you like…the israeli supreme court dealt with that issue”

Yea, yet it happened again in Gaza. There are plenty of new updated pics. Ironically, the IDF’s position is that it is free to take Palestinians as human shields because Gaza, West Bank and East Jersusalem (or Judea and Samaria if you like) are not part of Israel and hence the ruling of the Supreme Court is not binding. Funny how that works.

“….doesnt change what corrie was doing at the time”

Yea! She burned a flag. Big deal. You’ve done worse. You are cheer-leading murder for god sake. Who could even compare.

walt kovaks
“nor does it change the fact that her comrades in the ism, lacking real evidence of a crime, created edited videos and photoshoped pics of the incident”

The whole world is antisemitic conspiracy. I bet the Illuminati and martians were also involved in the cover-up.

walt kovaks
“would be nice if you could find one pic of corrie actually doing something constructive”

Like murdering sand-nig***s IDF style.

walt kovaks
“trust me…when i face the almighty, i might have to answer for many things…but spitting on that lover of terrorists grave, wont be one of them.”

Don’t worry walt.

There is no god. you have no one to answer to but your grand children who will see you as nothing more than a shameful racist fascist. The same way some white south africans see their grand parents.

That’s the beauty of the internet. The world is changing. Due to access to so much free unfiltered information, a majority of American Jews under 30 no longer identify with Israel. Your fascist dreams die with your generation.

Surely you haven’t been blind to this trend have you? I mean, what site are you on right now?

Wow! Adam Neira is one messed up person. It’s simply amazing how brainwashed these people are. They say completely contradictory things and yet expect to be taken seriously.

It’s amazing that he follows the statement “I have great respect for the dead” with “What happened to little Rachel between the years of three and a half to eight ? Her father might know the answer to this question.”

That’s like saying “I love and respect my wife … what’s wrong with severely beating her once a while?”

What exactly is Adam insinuating? Perhaps a better question would be “what happened to Adam Neira between the ages of 3 and now to make him so messed up”? His father may very well know the answer to this question.

Poyani, before you cast dispersions on someone you should be very careful. (To explain all the reasons for my above comments is not for this forum.) You sometimes may not be aware of who that person is and what their real status in the divine realm is. By the way, what is your real name ? If you don’t want to tell me, it doesn’t matter. There are other ways to find things out. I’ll give you this chance. Do you know what the penalties are for slandering the righteous ? I have no fear of the truth. Every human being alive today occupies some position on the awareness/healing spectrum. My mind is a beautiful thing. It is amazing what prayer, faith and right action can do. My fifteen year journey of discovery, wonder, challenge and awe in the spiritual and political realm has been completely voluntary. It is only G-d who has forced anything. I am as much a member of a group as Van Gogh was to an Art Club. So malheureusement your “Brainwashed” leitmotif doesn’t stick.

P.S. I set a very important legal precedent on Feb.2nd 1998. The only reason for responding to you here is because I am proud of nearly all of my public comments and will defend what I see as correct. I have probably commented too much here and the “Pearls before swine” saying comes to mind.

Rachel Corrie was a compassionate human being who rejected the thought that the Jeiwh parasites must make life pure misery just becuase of what their mothers read to them when they were mere little venomous vipers.

She died defending a Palestinian doctors home from being bulldozed because of the good he was doing for his people.

This week in Jerusalem the trial against the IDF bulldozer/operator killer and his commanding officer were put on hold as the cowardly Israeli jusge wanted the defendants to hide behind a screen so the Corrie familiy could not catch a glimpse of the kilers. (Actually, I believe it was to shield them form the eyes of the ICC who might ‘catch up with them’ – on a given trip to the EU. (Something that the murderous NioNazi Jews are doing less and less as iIrael’s ‘tsunami’ of murder and mayhem evolves throughout the ME, the EU and international waters.

To call a compassionate person who cares for the downtrodden, ‘a person with problems’ insults the humanity that exists in ‘some’ people – and yet, there are those that will go and ‘put their lives on the line,’ for what they beklieve. BTW: You don’t sound to be this type of person – Probably a conservative that wouldn’t be caught dead (excuse the pun) fighting for the downtroden – probably, more of a ‘keyboard warrior’ that lacks the courage and ‘guts’ to say what he thinks to people’s faces – and instead goes to the Internet to ‘growl’ and play ‘tough guy.’

Certainly, not someone that would ‘put his life on the line,’ for what he truly believes inside because he probably doesn’t believe in anything – much less himself..
.
As an ex-F-104C fighter pilot, I would not fight for this ‘rogue nation’ (Of course, that’s why young men go fight for their country -and I an ‘old warrior’ now realize that ‘bullets hurt.’).

On the other hand ‘I’d be sacred as hell’ if you were the one that was going to ‘fight’ for my freedom.

Good on you for your military service. 22 MIG’s is an impressive strikerate. Nostrovia ! Interesting to read your comments.

The word compassion has many hues. The head of the Sea Shepherd “Save the Gay Whales” group is “compassionate” yet deluded. Many PETA people are of the same mindset. Hitler loved small children and animals apparently. Assessing character is an interesting art.

Regarding my past life and putting things on the line. I spent two years in the Australian Navy, three years of Army cadets at school. (Strong Navy connection…My father was a Lieutenant Commander, uncle a highly decorated RANHV Vietnam War Pilot and later Commodore, step-father an RN Captain). I have also done an enormous amount of public service and community work of which I am very proud. I am not going to detail all the work I have done here. I sleep well at night. The thing I fear the most is not fulfilling my potential and mission. People should pick their battles carefully, non ?

P.S. Have you heard of the Sefirot as a tool to assess leadership qualities ? Sometimes it is necessary to be severe and swift in judgment. At other times it is necessary to be kind. It depends on setting and intention. Sovereignty is also an interesting concept.

P.S.S. Is the following true “Commencing with the Operation Rolling Thunder campaign in Vietnam, the F104 Starfighter was used both in the air-superiority role and in the air support mission; although it saw little aerial combat and scored no air-to-air kills” ?

Threats from a vengeful god. lol! The last stance of a man with no arguments.

Don’t worry about me Adam. Your invisible voodoo man in the sky has always suffered from many severe disabilities. All of them in fact. The invisible voodoo man seems to lack arms, legs, eyes, ears, along with every other body part which I seem to possess.

You go ahead any pray and play submission all you like. Just take a note from the late, great George Carlin:

“You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Joe Pesci. Two reasons; first of all, I think he’s a good actor. Ok. To me, that counts. Second; he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn’t fuck around. Doesn’t fuck around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that god was having trouble with. For years I asked god to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog. Joe Pesci straightened that cock-sucker out with one visit.

I noticed that of all the prayers I used to offer to god, and all the prayers that I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answer at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want. Half the time I don’t. Same as god 50/50. Same as the four leaf clover, the horse shoe, the rabbit’s foot, and the wishing well. Same as the mojo man. Same as the voodoo lady who tells your fortune by squeezing the goat’s testicles. It’s all the same; 50/50. So just pick your superstitions, sit back, make a wish and enjoy yourself.

And for those of you that look to the Bible for it’s literary qualities and moral lessons; I got a couple other stories I might like to recommend for you. You might enjoy The Three Little Pigs. That’s a good one. It has a nice happy ending. Then there’s Little Red Riding Hood. Although it does have that one x-rated part where the Big-Bad-Wolf actually eats the grandmother. Which I didn’t care for, by the way. And finally,

I’ve always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I liked best: …and all the king’s horses, and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again. That’s because there is no Humpty Dumpty, and there is no god. None. Not one. Never was. No god.”

Just a warning though Adam. Like George, I also pray to Joe Pesci, not your incompetent god.

Threats from a vengeful god. lol! The last stance of a man with no arguments.

Don’t worry about me Adam. Your invisible voodoo man in the sky has always suffered from many severe disabilities. All of them in fact. The invisible voodoo man seems to lack arms, legs, eyes, ears, along with every other body part which I seem to possess.

You go ahead any pray and play submission all you like. Just take a note from the late, great George Carlin:

“You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Joe Pesci. Two reasons; first of all, I think he’s a good actor. Ok. To me, that counts. Second; he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn’t **** around. Doesn’t **** around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that god was having trouble with. For years I asked god to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog. Joe Pesci straightened that ****-sucker out with one visit.

I noticed that of all the prayers I used to offer to god, and all the prayers that I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answer at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want. Half the time I don’t. Same as god 50/50. Same as the four leaf clover, the horse shoe, the rabbit’s foot, and the wishing well. Same as the mojo man. Same as the voodoo lady who tells your fortune by squeezing the goat’s testicles. It’s all the same; 50/50. So just pick your superstitions, sit back, make a wish and enjoy yourself.

And for those of you that look to the Bible for it’s literary qualities and moral lessons; I got a couple other stories I might like to recommend for you. You might enjoy The Three Little Pigs. That’s a good one. It has a nice happy ending. Then there’s Little Red Riding Hood. Although it does have that one x-rated part where the Big-Bad-Wolf actually eats the grandmother. Which I didn’t care for, by the way.

And finally, I’ve always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I liked best: …and all the king’s horses, and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again. That’s because there is no Humpty Dumpty, and there is no god. None. Not one. Never was. No god.”

Just a warning though Adam. Like George, I also pray to Joe Pesci, not your incompetent god.

As for your “real status in the divine realm”, my brother has a level 20 Dwarf in mage world of worldcraft character. I don’t know what that means butThat scares me more.

My brother told me that he has a level 18 Gnome Rogue in the video game World of Warcraft. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds more scary to me than your “real status in the divine realm” or your “position on the awareness/healing spectrum” or your threat of “penalties are for slandering the righteous”.